AN ACT CONCERNING CHANGES TO CERTAIN STATUTES AFFECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY SERVICES AND PUBLIC PROTECTION.

SUMMARY:

This bill:

1. reduces, from 15 to five days, the deadline by which the Department of Children and Families (DCF) must ask the State Police to conduct fingerprint-based state and national criminal history record checks on anyone living in a home in which DCF places a child on an emergency basis;

2. establishes a two-year deadline by which a person must apply for a security guard license after completing the required eight-hour licensure training; and

3. starting January 1, 2014, requires local police departments to submit certain fingerprints electronically to the State Police Bureau of Identification (SPBI) if they have the technology to take fingerprints electronically

*Senate Amendment “A” adds the fingerprinting provision.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2013 for the fingerprinting provision; October 1, 2013 for the remaining provisions.

EMERGENCY PLACEMENTS

By law, DCF may request an instant federal name-based criminal history search from a criminal justice agency for residents of any home in which it places a child as a result of the sudden unavailability of the child's primary caretaker. (These include private homes of the child's neighbors, friends, or relatives.)

Under current law, within 15 calendar days after the date the name-based search is performed, DCF must ask the State Police Bureau of Identification to perform fingerprint-based state and national criminal history records check on the residents. The bill reduces the deadline to five calendar days.

SECURITY GUARD LICENSE

By law, people seeking a security guard license must complete at least eight hours of training approved by the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection in basic first aid, search and seizure laws and regulations, use of force, basic criminal justice, and public safety issues. The bill allows someone to submit a license application only within two years of successfully completing training.

FINGERPRINTING

Starting January 1, 2014, the bill requires local police departments to submit fingerprints electronically to the SPBI if they can take fingerprints electronically. The bill applies to fingerprints of people (1) age 18 or older arrested for crimes involving moral turpitude and (2) requesting a criminal history records check under CGS § 29-17a. This statute outlines the procedure governing criminal history record checks required by law.